The Red Devils scraped through to a showpiece with Manchester City next month after prevailing in a shootout in Sunday's (21.04.24) semi-final following a 3-3 draw with their second-tier opponents but Ten Hag insists that it is a cause for celebration even though his side threw away a three-goal advantage in the second half.

He told reporters: "It is not an embarrassment. It is a huge achievement. We achieved two finals in two years.

"In the last 20 years, United were in the final five times so two is a huge achievement. When you are so dominant and 3-0 you should finish it. The way we did was not good."

The United boss is puzzled at how his team can go from one extreme to the other in the course of 90 minutes and knows his team needs to be smarter when it comes to seeing out results.

Ten Hag said: "We can play at very high levels, but in the same match, we can go to very low levels. It is not explainable, but it has to do with managing the game, taking responsibility and making the right decisions. I have to teach my players to make better decisions.

"We can do the most difficult to get a lead. We almost let it slip away but today we got away with it.

"But on penalties, how determined we were is a good sign, but in the last minutes, we made mistakes that shouldn’t have happened."